The sequel toBreath of the Wildfinally got its official name at September’s Nintendo Direct.The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomwill continue the story of its predecessor, taking place in the same world. Direct sequels are a rare occurrence inThe Legend of Zelda,but this means it could make some welcome changes to one part of the original game, especially considering the new formula of the franchise.
Breath of the Wildis one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time. Much of that praise is owed to the gameplay itself, such as its open-world design. But open-world games often face the difficult task of justifying exploration of the world after the main game is over.Breath of the Wild’sapproach to this was to simply omit any dedicated post-game content. It’s a decision that made some sense based on the game’s context, butThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomcould be an opportunity to include a better post-game.
RELATED:The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - All the New Equipment and Abilities Revealed for Link So Far
Breath of the Wild’s Post-Game
To put it simply,The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildlargely doesn’t have a post-game. The game creates a special auto-save before the final boss fight withCalamity Ganon and Dark Beast Ganon. After those fights, the game reverts to that save, allowing the player to continue exploring the world or replay the fight.
The only real content left, then, is to complete the120 Ancient Shrines, 900 Korok seeds, or numerous small side-quests. Completing the Shrines is a compelling enough task if the player hasn’t done so already, but many players find there is little left to do once the main story ends. It’s a common complaint about an otherwise adored game, but the decision on Nintendo’s part is understandable.
A basic post-game consisting of just what has been left unfinished is arguably a better option than one that exists for the sake of it. Many open-world games opt for the latter, populating the game with weak filler content to keep the player engaged.Breath of the Wildinstead decides to let players return to the already strong existing content - its shrines and one of thebest open-world mapsin gaming. This makes even more sense now, with what has been revealed aboutThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Improving the Post-Game in Tears of the Kingdom
Everything that has been revealed aboutThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomtells us that Link’s work didn’t end with the conclusion ofBreath of the Wild.It’s clear thatHyrule is still in danger, even with Ganon seemingly defeated. As such, sinceBreath of the Wildwas setting up for a continued story inTears of the Kingdom,it makes sense that there were no further narrative elements following Ganon’s defeat. That meant a meaningful post-game was largely off the table.
However,Tears of the Kingdomshould be the conclusion of that story, so content after its main story may be more viable. An obvious option would be aNew Game Plus.Breath of the Wild’sDLC did include a more difficult Master Mode in its DLC, but it would be a nice addition to have it in the base game ofTears of the Kingdom.It also makes sense considering how the newLegend of Zeldaformula is less restricted by story items than older games. Being able to replay the game with all the weapons and armor players may have spent hundreds of hours collecting could add some great variety, without having to include further story elements.
A more creative option, however, would be implementing an epilogue as a story-based post-game. Epilogues can serve as a narratively-appropriate way to continue the main quest and tie up any loose ends or remaining questions. For example,Red Dead Redemption 2’s epiloguewas massively popular due to how it concluded so many characters' stories in such a satisfying way. InTears of the Kingdom,this could open up new side-quests, such as ones in aid villages or characters trying to recover from catastrophes. It would also be an interesting way to learn about how the events of the two games have affected regular people in Hyrule. PastZeldatitles have not really shown how so many iterations of Hyrule recover from near-apocalyptic events, so it could be an exciting direction for the series to take.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomwill release onMay 12, 2023, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
MORE:The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Seems to Double Down on Traversal Mechanics
